A look at what's going on in Trinidad, on H Street, and in the larger area north of Capitol Hill.

Thursday, August 08, 2013

Stolen Backpack

A reader writes in about a backpack that was stolen out of a car. She is right that items like this are often discarded nearby. Have you seen this backpack?

I'm a frequent reader of the Frozen Tropics blog, and thought maybe you could help me out. My friend had his car broken into this weekend at 14th & D NE, at 10 AM on Sunday morning, and a neighbor saw them run off and called the cops. The neighbor identified one of the thieves as wearing a blue backpack. My friend just realized that the backpack was his, and the thieves took it from the car. I have a feeling that the backpack was likely ditched in an alley (since it would be easy to identify them if they kept carrying it). Can you send out a note asking if anyone has seen a blue backpack with a fairly nondescript pair of white shoes in it? They are worth a lot to my friend, but I doubt they would be to anyone else.

Smashed the back window. His phone was visible (never leave things visible people!) which I'm sure is why they broke in. Easy re-sale. They probably just grabbed the backpack in the hopes that it had something worth taking.

Yeah, I had a car broken into in Chicago under similar circumstances: I left a plastic bag visible in the car. The bag had garbage in it, but of course the thief didn't know that -- he/she just saw a bag. So I echo your recommendation: leaving nothing visible in your car.

@anon1:24Stop blaming the victim you douche-bag. Your car should be a secure place to keep your stuff. It's not okay to steal something just because you can see it.

Actually, why don't you tell us what's the make, model and plate of your car? Just so the rest of us can come check if your stuff is secure. Make sure you didn't leave any spare change in the console visible or irresponsibly fail to remove your radio from the vehicle at night. You know, make sure you didn't do anything stupid that warrants us smashing your windows and stealing from you. Do you have locking lug nuts or are you just giving your tires away for free? Fuck it, maybe I'll just take the whole car since you just left it in the street you obviously don't want it.

Just last week we found a backpack on our sidewalk that we assumed had been discarded after a car break in. Unfortunately it was black, not blue- and had flip flops not sneakers. We called to see if anyone had reported it missing but they hadn't. Always file a police report because you may actually retrieve your stuff.

4:21,I'm pretty sure that wasn't a serious threat. He was making a point about blaming the victim.

Four major takeaways from this thread:

1. Don't leave items that appear that they might be valuable to anyone in your car (this could be bags of any sort, or even groceries). I knew a girl who had every lock on her car (minus the back hatch) broken when some kids tried to break in with a screwdriver to get at a dollar bill she had rolled up.

2. If you stuff is stolen, make sure the police have a report that includes what was taken.

3. If you find stuff that might have been stolen, call the cops. Although, if I find stolen items and can ID the owner, I first try to track down the owner. I have generally been able to do so.

4. We all sometimes leave stuff in the car. It happens. That does not make it ok for someone else to take it.

I don't think that anon was blaming the victims, I think he/she was making a point about lessons learned. Doug got out if hand nasty and crass. It's really too bad that commenters like Doug ruin this blog for the rest of us.

How am I ruining anything? Just trying to make my point in a more colorful way than just being like "I respectfully disagree". It's not like I jumped on some innocent person either, the other commenter at 1:24 was being a straight up dick and had it coming. Don't dish it out if you can't take it.

Seriously, this isn't Club Penguin. It's a blog featuring articles about the local bar scene and who has been stabbed in our neighborhood lately. If your child is old enough to be reading about that stuff I promise you they already know and use the F word.